


The Headache

by FrizzleNox



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Concussions, Episode: s07e05 The Sniffles, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Patrick Brewer is stubborn, Post-Canon, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29388858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrizzleNox/pseuds/FrizzleNox
Summary: When Patrick ends up in the hospital after a hockey injury, David assumes the worst. What David doesn't expect is how hard it is to deal with an impatient injured Patrick.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 6
Kudos: 87
Collections: Schitt's Creek Season 7





	The Headache

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [SCSeason7](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/SCSeason7) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
>  7x05- The Sniffles
> 
> Patrick or David is seriously hurt in some way having to do with an attack- not an accident. Happy ending please but the not-hurt partner is definitely left completely shaken, sleeping by hospital bedside, etc. Hopefully, the injured party isn’t unconscious for the whole thing so some serious hurt/comfort can ensue.
> 
> This fic was much harder to write than I wanted it to be. Thanks to my friends on Discord for helping me figure out hockey injuries and to my Beta for giving it a once over.

Although Patrick swears it was an accident, David knows his husband was targeted. He’d tried to talk Patrick out of joining the recreational hockey league in Elm Glen during the off-season of baseball but he refused to listen. Hockey was Patrick’s passion. He’d been a forward for his high school’s province-winning team and had played in college. His father had been scouted by a few NHL teams when he was in college, but he’d turned down the opportunity to play when Marcy got pregnant his senior year. 

Hockey was violent and dangerous. Despite Patrick’s, and eventually, Marcy and Clint’s reassurances that there were rarely deaths due to hockey related injuries, and the worst any of the Brewer’s had experienced was a separated shoulder, which Patrick’s cousin had gotten after being checked into the boards during a heated championship game. The worst Patrick and Clint had experienced themselves had been sprained ankles. This news wasn’t reassuring to David in the slightest. The thought of his husband on crutches or in a boot, and in pain was disconcerting to David. 

“It’ll be fine. I’m catching a ride with Ronnie, she’s filling in for our team this week. If anything happens she’ll call you but I’ll be okay.” Patrick promised, kissing David’s cheek as he headed out the door, duffle over his shoulder for the second game of the season. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“I promised Stevie I’d FaceTime with her tonight. Stay safe.” David watched his husband drive away and curled up on their couch with a glass of wine, trying to calm his nerves as he waited for Stevie’s call. After an hour he was comfortably buzzed and no longer worried about Patrick when his FaceTime was interrupted by a call from Ronnie. 

“Ronnie?” David answered tentatively, running through scenarios in his head as to why she’d called. Was Patrick dead, bleeding out on the ice? Did he break a bone? The call wasn’t good.

“David, don’t panic.” Ronnie started. This wasn’t good. David was panicking now.

“Patrick is on his way to Elmdale General Hospital. He took a nasty spill on the ice and league protocol required we call a medic. I’m following the ambulance. Do you want to meet us there?” Patrick was injured. Patrick was going to the hospital, the thing David had dreaded since Patrick mentioned his intention to play.

“Yeah, I’ll leave in a minute. He’s not dead, is he? He’s not going to die before I get there?” David grabbed his coat and a bag of essentials and headed out to his car. 

“He’s going to be fine. This is a normal hockey injury.” Ronnie assured him.

“Thanks. I’ll see you there.”

After dialing Patrick’s number, David pulled out of their driveway, hooking his phone into their car’s Bluetooth. 

“David. I’m okay.” Patrick spoke into the phone, David could tell he was in pain. “The medics are taking good care of me. I’ll see you at the ER.”

David was near tears, Patrick was injured. He sounded like he was in pain. “I love you. I’ll see you there.”

“Relax. I love you too. Drive safe.” Patrick said before hanging up.

David was soon at the ER and rushed inside, asking the nurse to see his husband. “His name is Patrick Brewer-Rose. He told me he had a head injury when he talked to me on the phone. Our friend Ronnie Lee brought him.” David said quickly, not totally convinced that Patrick was still alive.

“Mr. Brewer?” The nurse asked. “Come with me. He’s getting a CT Scan right now but should be out soon. I’ll take you to the waiting room. We’ll get you back to see him as soon as we can.” She escorted David to a small waiting room where Ronnie sat, looking at her phone.

“He’s not dead is he?” David blurted out as soon as he saw her, collapsing into the chair beside her?

Ronnie rested a reassuring hand on David’s forearm. “He’s fine. They needed to do a scan on his head” She dropped a small gold ring into David’s hand. “He asked me to hold on to that for safekeeping. 

David slid the finger onto his pinky, glad to feel more connected with his husband. “He got a concussion?”

“That’s what they’re thinking. They needed a CT scan to be sure.”

“How did it happen?”

“He got into a little scuffle on the ice. He scored a few goals and the other team took offense.”

“They attacked him, didn’t they?”

“Not exactly attacked, but they targeted him.” Ronnie squeezed David’s hand. “Your husband is in good hands. The guy who went after him is in a bit of trouble with the league. He’s not going to be allowed back on the ice without an apology.”

Before long they were escorted to Patrick’s bedside. Seeing Patrick lying there in a hospital gown, made David’s heart break. He wanted to cry but knew he had to keep it together. 

“I’ll give you two some time.” Ronnie stood by the door. “I’ll be in the waiting room.”

“You can go home, I can get my hockey bag from you tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll need it tonight, David’s here. He can take me home, right?”

David nodded and sat beside Patrick’s bed, resting his hand on his husband’s. “That’s fine. I’ll take it from here. Thank you again.”

“Let me know what I can do for you two once you’re settled at home.”

“Thanks. I’ll text you in the morning, let you know how we’re doing.” David slid Patrick’s wedding ring onto his pinky, where it fit perfectly. 

“Take it easy, Brewer. Listen to your doctors, I know how stubborn you are.” Ronnie chuckled, heading out.

“You were attacked, weren’t you? Ronnie said you weren’t but I don’t believe her.” David asked, jumping to conclusions as soon as Ronnie was gone. 

Patrick reached out and clutched David’s hand. “Nice to see you too David, I’m glad you’re here.” Patrick sighed. “I got into a fight on the ice. I guess it was an attack. It happens.” Patrick shrugged.

“No more hockey.” David insisted, “You’re not doing this to me again.”

Patrick shook his head. “Fights happen. I’m going to be fine. I scored a goal early into the game, and one of the guys on the other team took offense to it and checked me. Ronnie tried to come to my defense and fists started flying. My helmet came off and I slipped and smacked my head on the ice. I was knocked out cold. They’re keeping me for observation tonight.”

David gasped. “I didn’t need to know all of that.”

“I got a concussion. I’m going to be fine.” Patrick reassured him once again. 

“But you’re staying overnight, there’s got to be more to it.”

“I lost consciousness when my head hit the ice.” Patrick squeezed his hand. “They know how far we are from the hospital and wanted me to be here in case anything changes overnight.” Schitt’s Creek was nearly an hour from the hospital, which was usually fine, they’d gotten an urgent care clinic that took care of most medical issues after Ted had sold his veterinary practice in town, but they weren’t open overnight.

“Why are you wearing a gown? That means it’s serious, right?”

“I got a nose bleed in the ambulance. My jersey is a bit of a mess from the blood.” Patrick scooted over in the hospital bed. “Sit beside me?”

David nodded and sat beside his husband, kissing his forehead. “I love you.” He whispered, brushing an errant curl out of Patrick’s eyes. 

“I know. I’m sorry I scared you.” Patrick whispered, clasping David’s hand. “Having you here makes me feel a lot better.”

David was nudged out of Patrick’s hospital bed by a nurse who insisted that he’d sleep better in the recliner next to Patrick’s bed. He fell asleep with his fingers intertwined with Patrick’s; the first time since they were married that they hadn’t fallen asleep in the same bed. After multiple checks from doctors and nurses and a final brain scan, Patrick was discharged in the morning with instructions to take it easy for a few days and to stay off his skates until his follow-up appointment in a week.

“At least it’s Tuesday, our usual day off.” Patrick grinned as David drove home. 

“Yeah. That helps a little. It’ll be nice to get you changed and be able to snuggle you properly.”

“You’re gonna take care of me today?” Patrick held David’s hand as he drove.

David smiled at the gesture, loving how touchy Patrick was with him, finding it calming. “You’ll see.”

Taking care of Patrick meant getting him into comfy pajamas and into bed before heading into the kitchen to make him tea and calling Marcy Brewer for reassurance while he waited for the water to heat up. “Patrick got a nasty concussion last night,” David explained to his mother-in-law. “We just got home from the hospital.”

“Why aren’t you with him? He needs you.”

“What should I do for him?”

“Stay with him, keep him company, remind him that you love him. I know my boy is stubborn and won’t want to stay in bed all day but that’s the best thing for him. Don’t let him cook or get up other than to go to the bathroom. He had to stay home from school in high school because he got a concussion and I came home to him cleaning my kitchen. You really need to take charge of him and tell him no.”

“He hasn’t changed, has he?” David chuckled into the phone. “He refuses to take a sick day from work.”

“Today is your day off right? I don’t think you’d have been able to keep him out of the store otherwise.”

“It is, and we’ve got a friend watching the store tomorrow. The doctor wants Patrick to rest for a few days.”

“I know you’ll take good care of my boy, you always do. I wish we were closer so we could come help.”

“Patrick! Get back in bed!” David yelled up the stairs, hearing the creaky floorboard in their bedroom. “Sorry, Marcy.”

“Told you he was stubborn.”

“I’ll talk to you soon, thanks again.”

David ran up the stairs, seeing Patrick standing in their closet, examining his blue button-ups.

“What are you supposed to be doing?” David pressed a kiss to the crown of Patrick’s head and guided him back to bed, placing his tea on his nightstand.

“I want to get dressed, we’ve got to go on our vendor visit.”

“The vendor visit that we canceled yesterday because Heather Warner had a family emergency out of town?” David raised an eyebrow.

“I forgot about that.” Patrick blushed.

“Your mother was right?”

“You called her?”

“Of course I did. I wanted to let her know about your injury.”

Patrick pouted. “But I’m fine."

“You’re not. We just spent the night in the hospital. Bed, now.” David guided him under the covers, curling up beside him. “You owe me.”

“Owe you for what?” Patrick looked him over. “Take off your jeans, you’re wearing the same clothes you wore to the hospital last night.”

“We’re making up for last night. That was the first time since we got married that we didn’t share a bed. I want to sleep beside you.” David got out of bed and changed into a pair of Patrick’s flannel pajama pants and one of his baseball tees. “Better?” He crawled back into bed, intertwining their fingers as he laid on his side beside his husband. 

“Much better. I’m sorry I scared you.” Patrick gave him a quick kiss. “Can we just snuggle for a bit? The doctor said nothing mentally taxing. Snuggling works, right?”

“Snuggling is perfect.” David smiled, running a hand up and down Patrick’s back. “You’re gonna be good for me these next few days, listen to me and your doctors, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“They said you need to rest, take it easy.” David knew Patrick would want to be back at work the next day, but it wasn’t happening.

“The store, we need to be at work.”

“Stevie is in town for the next week, she and Jocelyn and Ronnie can keep an eye on the store while I keep an eye on you.” 

“What about the financial stuff?” Patrick looked panicked.

“Stevie agreed to do the bank deposits for us. I can pay the vendors. You need to relax, to heal. We’re not going to lose the store over this, I promise.”

After a few days at home resting and being cleared by his doctor, Patrick was physically back at work, assigned to light duty, helping at the register on occasion while David stocked the store and worked on inventory.

Ronnie had installed blackout curtains in the office so that Patrick would have a dark place to lie down when he needed a break, which David insisted on him taking frequently. 

“You need me out there, you don’t do well with running register on your own.” Patrick protested.

David shook his head. “We’ve owned this store for nearly three years. I’ve worked on my own before.”

“I know, but it’s Saturday, we get busy on Saturday. I’ll be on the floor as much as I can.”

“Jocelyn is coming in for a bit. We’ll be good.”

“I don’t know why you had me come in if you had the help.”

David leaned in and kissed Patrick’s forehead. “I wanted to keep an eye on you. I knew if I left you home, I’d come back to you cutting the grass or doing some housework. Here I can keep an eye on you.”

Patrick shook his head. He knew David was right. He didn’t like to spend much time sitting still when there was work to be done. 

After a few weeks on light duty, with frequent breaks in the backroom, Patrick was cleared to get back to normal and allowed back on skates. 

“Heading to practice tonight?” David asked, noticing Patrick digging through his hockey bag. 

“The season is over. I was thinking about going to open skate at the rink. Wanna come with me?”

“You think I can skate?” David laughed, shaking his head.

Patrick held out a box that had arrived from Alexis. “So these aren’t yours?”

David opened it, pulling out a pair of custom-made black figure skates. “I thought these were gone forever.”

“Alexis ran into Johnny Weir recently, he hadn’t gotten rid of them after you left them at his place when you broke up. His assistant had them shipped to Alexis’s office and she thought they’d be a nice surprise for you.”

“I haven’t skated in years, but I suppose I could try. Sure you’re ready?”

“It’ll be good to get back on the ice, to take it slow. Ronnie and her wife are going as well, she’s picking us up in a few.”

“You planned this out, didn’t you?”

Patrick nodded and pressed a kiss to David’s cheek. “Get changed unless you want to skate in those.” Patrick gestured to David’s tight jeans.

Clad in a pair of workout pants and a hoodie, David soon joined Patrick with his skates in the back of Ronnie’s SUV on the way to skate.

“How are you two feeling about tonight?” Ronnie asked once they were settled in.

“Nervous.” David looked over at Patrick. “I really don’t want him getting hurt again.”

“I’m excited to see David skate. It takes some pressure off of me to be good.” Patrick laughed.

“Sounds like you’re feeling a lot better.”

“I am, thanks, Ronnie.”

After a shaky start and a few falls, David and Patrick ended the night skating hand in hand.

“You’re healed.” David smiled, as they glided together. 

“I’m getting there. I don’t plan on playing again for a few more weeks but it’s nice to have the ice under my feet. You could join the team if you wanted.” Patrick teased.

“Maybe I’ll start coming to watch you. I could wear my ‘my husband is on the hockey team’ outfit.”

“Sounds good to me.”


End file.
